TAHITI: THE PLAYGROUND OF NATURE 



O — * ) 



shade ; and around them magnii 

 bunch ferns clung to embowered 

 and, with other plants, impinged 

 the sinuous thoroughfare. 



The productiveness of the land 

 matched by the fecundity of the 

 Oysters covered the rocks of the 

 flats, slugs profusely strewed the 

 lows, and playful fish leaped bodily 

 the tidal lakes formed by the inter 



icent 

 cliffs 

 upon 



was 

 sea. 

 tide- 

 shal- 

 from 

 cept- 



mg road. 



A "bird cage house; 



The Isthmus of Taravao, overlooking 

 Port Phaeton, is the parting of the ways 

 for the circumambient traveler. Here 

 one road swings round to Maora, an- 

 other follows the coast to Tautira, and a 

 third leads to Hitiaa and Papenoo. 



We took the road to Maora, and that 

 night arrived at the home of one of 

 Tairua's cousins, at Vaieri, on the south- 

 ern side of the peninsula. She was a 

 doctor, I was told, and with her family 

 occupied the neatest bamboo or "bird- 

 cage"' house in the village. It was about 

 twentv feet long and twelve feet wide 

 and its single room was roofed with pan- 

 danus. 



I judged that there were at least one' 

 hundred courses of thatch, or twice as 

 many as in the ordinary palm covering. 

 Each was strengthened with bamboo and 

 reeds and the whole was fastened to 

 rafters of hibiscus with narrow strips of 

 bark from this same tree. The siding 

 consisted of bamboo four and one-half 

 feet high, tied together with hibiscus 

 rope. The door was a mat of palm 

 branches, minus hinges. The floor was a 

 thick carpet of dry grass, partly overlaid 

 with a mat. Inside everything was neatly 

 arranged and scrupulously clean. 



The mother spent the evening talking 

 to Tairua and weaving a reed hat, in 

 which occupation she showed her dex- 

 terity by handling eleven strips at a time. 

 When I retired for the night I was given 

 the only bed she possessed, and that I 

 might have clean linen, she and her 

 daughter went to a neighbor's and bor- 

 rowed it. 



Tairua was provided with a mattress 

 on the floor and the family slept near 

 him on the floor mat. In the morning I 

 breakfasted with him and his grand- 



mother's brother, in cross-legged fashion 

 before a cloth. The rest of the house- 

 bold ate in the thatched kitchen, which 

 tbey evidently deemed too common for 

 me. 



After breakfast Tairua and I contin- 

 ued to Maora, where we planned to take 

 a canoe the following day to round the 

 coast of Pari. When we sought lodging- 

 for the night we were directed to the 

 villa of Monsieur Toa. Here we were 

 favorably impressed by a supper of 

 chicken, with coconut gravy, beef, fei, 

 rolls, and coffee. 



As I sat on Toa's veranda after this 

 meal I heard barbarous yells across the 

 road. They proceeded from a group of 

 boys and girls from six to ten years old. 

 who were giving an impromptu dance. 

 They were in the midst of it when the 

 father of one or more of them burst upon 

 the scene with shouts of disapproval and 

 blows on heads. I asked Tairua why the 

 man should object so emphatically to a 

 seemingly harmless performance. 



"Tahiti people don't allow their chil- 

 dren to dance," he explained. "I would 

 not let them do so if I had any. It i^ 

 bad for them. Tahiti children are not 

 allowed to dance until they are eighteen 

 years old or are married." 



WASPS AND SPIDERS IN THE HOMES 



To most persons seeking sweet repose, 

 the presence of two or three hundred 

 wasps and several ferocious-looking spi- 

 ders in their bedroom would not be con- 

 ducive to dreamless or visionless sleep : 

 yet it was with just such companv as this 

 that my guide and I slumbered in Toa's 

 house that night. When I was about to 

 retire I chanced to look up, and lo ! di- 

 rectly over our beds, in the angle of ceil- 

 ing and wall, clustered two or three hun- 

 dred wasps. 



"Look at that !" I exclaimed with some 

 animation. "We are likely to get stung 

 before the night is passed. And look at 

 those two big spiders. One is almost as 

 large as a crab. Is it safe to sleep here?" 



"Ho, ho!" chuckled Tairua. "They 

 will not hurt you. The wasps are there 

 because they are cold and the spiders are 

 afraid of us." 



In spite of this comforting assurance, 

 I found it extremely easy to invent pic- 

 tures of inquisitive winged insects drop- 



